Jessie Buckley’s Oscar win may have passed many Donegal people by. After all, awards like these can feel a long way from everyday life in Dungloe or Stranorlar. Plus, the fact she’s a Kerry-woman gives the excitement a slightly different flavour here as well.
After last year’s All-Ireland final, some might say Kerry people had won and celebrated enough. But Buckley’s success is worth a second look, not because of where she’s from but because of what the win signals for Ireland on the world stage in film and television.
The Irish screen industry is trying to build on recent attention and make the case for Ireland as a stronger base for international production.
From a Donegal perspective, that’s where the more interesting story begins. Once Ireland is seen in that light, it shapes more than headlines. It influences what gets commissioned, where stories are set, which places are viewed as production-friendly and where opportunities begin to emerge.
Those ripple effects go further than Dublin and the counties producing the stars. They travel across the wider industry.
Donegal is already well placed to benefit because it’s already a popular location. The scenery is the obvious draw. Producers need little convincing when it comes to the coastline, the mountains, the changing light, the weather and the sheer scale of the place. But people working in television production say the scenery, while important, is only one part of Donegal’s appeal. The bigger factor is the people. Time and again, they say people in Donegal are welcoming and accommodating. They want to help, and they will often do the extra bit if it helps get a scene done or a production over the line.
That counts massively because a location can look spectacular on screen, but if it is difficult to work in, word travels quickly.
The strongest recent example is CRÁ. Filming on the second series began in Gaoth Dobhair in January after a first series that travelled widely internationally under the title Boglands, giving the production a reach well beyond Ireland.
That is striking for a drama so rooted in place, language and atmosphere and shows that productions made in Donegal can travel widely without losing their identity.
Donegal is not simply standing in for somewhere else. In a series like CRÁ, it is part of the story.
Returning productions bring practical benefits too. They build experience locally and generate paid extras work, accommodation bookings, transport needs, catering, and all the other activity that comes with filming.
Just as importantly, they help make the industry feel more tangible for young actors, writers and crew in the county. It becomes something happening here, not something that only happens somewhere else.
Before CRÁ, Donegal had already reached wide audiences through In the Land of Saints and Sinners, starring Liam Neeson and the 2022 film, God’s Creatures with Paul Mescal. Those productions helped reinforce the idea of Donegal not simply as a scenic backdrop, but as a serious location for film and television.
Meanwhile, there’s constant work being done to make the county easier to market and easier to use. Donegal Film Office has launched a new website to promote the county to filmmakers, while its Emerging Talent Fund is again offering support to writers, producers and directors working towards a first production credit.
None of that is glamorous, but it’s the kind of groundwork that turns interest into repeat business.
That’s why Buckley’s Oscar win is worth looking at from a Donegal perspective, even if nobody here was in a rush to hang out the bunting for Kerry. A win like that doesn’t transform things overnight. But it does form part of a wider picture: Irish performers and productions reaching global audiences, and the industry here being spoken about with greater confidence.
Donegal already has much of what the screen industry wants. More than that, it has the kind of reputation production companies value: a place where people are glad to see work coming in and willing to help make it happen.
Buckley’s Oscar will be enjoyed most keenly in Kerry. But as one more sign of Ireland’s screen industry moving with confidence on the world stage, it leaves Donegal well placed to share in what comes next.
The Fresh Take column is written by Sabrina Sweeney and appears every Thursday in the Donegal News.